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Product Description

4to. 1st edition, limited to 50 copies, illustrated with 195 mounted specimens on 40 leaves, with 11 duplicate specimens mounted and laid-in, and two additional specimens both collected by Durant mounted on 8.5' x 11' sheets laid-in (with autograph notes of his daughter Emma Durant to verso). Includes a 2 pp autograph letter of presentation from Emma to a Mr. Richardson ('so appreciative a friend of the author'), with a brief history of this copy as well as the repair to the binding. Original red morocco, rebacked, and later? recornered. Charles F. Durant was not only the author of this most important book on the history of New York's botany, but also the first American aeronaut - making the first balloon flight by an American on September, 9, 1830 - as well as the man who introduced the silkworm to the U.S. According to a 1907 article by Elizabeth Howe in 'The Lamp' resurrecting the importance of the man and the work, while Durant had planned 50 copies to be produced, 'the total number completed could hardly have exceeded fifteen.' According to Emma Durant in the letter of 1928, this copy is the last she knows of and known as 'the family book'. Some closed tears to the edges of the leaves, and some wear to the binding, but overall a tight, clean copy, of an important book, with additional plates and specimens. VG, in custom clamshell case.